Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia - Page Text Content

S: Ancient Mesopotamia

BC: Can you imagine living in a civilization called Mesopotamia? Think about letters that would take forever to write! There were slaves, kings to tell you what to do, and your doctors wouldn’t even be that great, they were your priests. You might be upper class or you might be lower class. Think about living in Ancient Mesopotamia. You might like it but there wouldn’t be any T.V at all.

3: Mesopotamia started in 3,000 BCE (Before Common Era). Mesopotamia is in Greek and when translated, it means the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia started when the rain began to fall seasonal. In the other city, which was located 20 miles away from Mesopotamia, is called Tigris City. They didn’t get a lot of rain like Mesopotamia so they decided to move them and their families to Mesopotamia where more crops could grow. | How and When Did Mesopotamia Start? | 1

4: Governments can fall easy, and they all have a reason. Mesopotamia was overtaken by the Persions. They didn't like it but they learned a lot of new things while they got overtaken. They learned how to make swords and chariots. | Government | 2

5: Kings of Mesopotamia | Kings ruled the people in Mesopotamia. They made people do things that they did not want to do. Sometimes there were laws that told you how to behave, and if you did not follow the laws you would be punished. Here are some Kings: ~ King Sargon I ~ Balulu ~ Meskiagnunna | 3

6: Hamurabi’s Code | The Hamurabi's Code was used for judging. Or for crimes as you might say. The first king of Babylon invented it. The Hamurabi's code can tell if you are guilty of the crime you had made. If you had lied then you would go to jail Here are some crimes that you might commit then what would happen to you. Stealing ----- Put to death If someone found a male or female slave they must return to the owner the owner must pay that person 2 shekels of sliver. Caught robbing ----- Put to death | 4

7: The priests were the top of the Social classes. They were in charge of making you behave in a way that their gods would approve of. The priests were also the doctors of the time. If you were sick then you would call for the priests. It was easy to tell who the priests were because they shaved their heads. | The priest were on the top of the social classes. The priests were also your doctors. So if you were sick then you would call on the priests. You could tell who were the priests because they would shave their heads. | Social Classes | 5

8: The Upper Class: Men and women wore jewelry. They wore mostly rings. The men wore long skirts and had long hair with curly moustaches, and long beards. The women wore dresses off one shoulder. Women had long hair which they braided and wore up in fancy arrangements. | 6

9: The Lower Class: They did get paid for their jobs. They do not have the luxury of the rich but they were comfortable. With their families they thought that if you were comfortable then you didn’t need that much money. They worked really hard to pay for their homes and their family. | 7

10: The Slaves: Slaves worked for the king but they didn’t get paid. Slaves were sold and bought. They would cost less than a donkey, but more than a cow. Slaves were black, and white people didn’t approve of black people. | 8

11: The preists were the highest of all the people and they could do a lot different things that the other people couldn't do. The upper class was almost as high as the priests but they weren't. They wouldn't get into jail as easy as the lower class would. The lower class got put into jail really easy because they didn't have a lot of money, so they were an easy target. | The slaves didn't get paid at all if they did something that their owner didn't approve of then they would get whipped. | Social classes and their rights | 10

12: They had a democratic government. That means that people would vote for people. The people who were already on the group would choose other people. Then they would pick a king for Mesopotamia. That King would rule over all of Mesopotamia. They would go until that king died and if he had a son then the son would become king. | 11